Japan – Donburi Meal, Unadon

by Zayna Khan

Donburi is a dish consist of rice bowl topped with grilled marinated meat. This dish is also known as Japanese rice bowl dish. Simple ingredients are used to stir or grill the meat like mutton, beef an serve over the bowl of cooked rice in a very good and presentable way. To garnished with some cilantro and greens are added.

Donburi bowl

Donburi is actually name of a bowl and in which dishes or meal are served also came up with the name Donburi. There are many varieties if meal served in Donburi and known as donburi meal.

When we come up with the literary meaning of the word Donburi, it means ”BOWL”

Traditional Japanese Donburi meals are :

1. Gyudon

It is rice dish, topped with Beef slices. They are marinated with soya sauce and dashi. Some sautéed onions and carrots are also added in this dish

2. Tendon

This is a dish in which rice and Japanese cuisine’s Tempura is added while serving.

3. Butadon

This dish include Pork meat with rice .

4. Unadon

Unadon is rice dish in which meat of sea food, EEL is grilled and added.

5. Tamagadon

It is a rice bowl served with scrambled eggs on the top.

6. Chukadon

In this dish, rice is served with stir fried vegetables like mushrooms, onions, carrot etc.

There are more varieties of Donburi meals which is served in a DONBURI bowl. Rice is the must component of the dish but can be served with the above given meat varieties like, beef slices, scrambled eggs, pork pieces or seafood slice.

Here the recipe of UNADON is given below:

UNADON

As given the brief explanation about the donburi meal. Unadon is a donburi meal in which EEL (seafood) is served in the donburi bowl with rice. EEL is topped with soya sauce based caramelized sauce known as TARE.

EEL COOKING TECHNIQUES/ METHODS

There are two methods of cooking eel given below

1. Kabayaki

This is the regional cooking technique, In which EEL or fish is split down the back and dipped into soya sauce with some marination or seasoings and than grilled.

2. Kansai Region Technique

This is grilling of the fish, without getting steam over it.

INGREDIENTS OF MAKING UNAGI

• Unagi / EEL fish = 4 fillet ( 6 inch approx. )
• Rock salt = 1/4 teaspoon
• Sanzo pepper = 1 teaspoon
• Lemon juice = 4 tablespoons
• Olive oil = for drizzling

COOKING METHOD OF UNAGI

• Preheat the steamer or broiler before marination of the fish.
• In fish add salt, pepper, olive oil and lemon juice.
• Steam the fish/ unagi for 10 minutes.
• Now let the unagi to dry and cool down completely.
• At this time, unagi is not cooked or tempered properly.

INGREDIENTS OF TARE SAUCE FOR UNADON

• Soya sauce = 1 cup
• Mirin = 1/2 cup
• Salt = 1/8 teaspoon
• Brown sugar = 2 tablespoon
• Sake = 1/2 tablespoon

METHOD OF MAKING TARE SAUCE

• Take sauce pan and add soya sauce, mirin, salt, sugar and sake into it
• Boil the mixture until it gets thickened and sticky.
• It take around 10 to 15 minutes to assemble the mixture and enough thick.

MIXING OF UNAGI/ EEL AND SAUCE

• Take pre half cooked or steamed unagi and add thick sauce over the each piece. Topped the fillet properly with thick layer of sauce over it.
• Grill the fish on oven at around 200 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes.
• This makes unagi to cooked properly with the sauce.

INGREDIENTS FOR STEAM RICE

• Rice = 1 bowl
• salt = 1 teaspoon
• Olive oil = 2 tablespoons
• water = 2 cups

METHOD FOR COOKING

• Take broiler / steamer and on which add rice soaked before 2 hours of cooking.
• Add salt, oil and water, let it cook for 20 minutes on medium heat.
• SERVED!

SERVING AND GARNISHING

Just take a donburi bowl, add half a bowl of cooked rice. Add two fillets of eel over the rice. You can add cilantro on top to garnish the donburi bowl.